(Garden City, NY) - When the day comes that the Westchester Community College Volleyball team is routinely the powerhouse program in Region XV and regularly competing on a national scale, they will remember the 2018 team. They will know the foundation set by a group that entered the season expecting nothing after a 7-13 record one year ago, but gaining everything by winning 15 matches, capturing their first Mid-Hudson Conference Championship since 2001, and qualifying for the Region XV Championship Tournament for the first time since 2015, and only the second time since at least 2012. If indeed Vikings Volleyball is on a journey to the top, those who achieve that height will never forget where it started. Right here. 2018. This team.
Unfortunately, the 2018 volleyball season is now over after second-seeded Nassau Community College (24-11) swept Westchester Community College on Thursday night in the NJCAA Region XV Quarterfinal Round, but the Vikings left the Nassau Community College Gymnasium fully understanding the accomplishments they had achieved, and the standards they have set for all WCC volleyball teams to come. For this team, it was the end of a journey, but for the program it was only the beginning.
Nassau CC won the match 25-23, 25-15, and 25-21 to advance to the Region XV Final Four for the fifth time during the last six years, but it was a match the proved to be far more competitive than the regular-season match that took place when the teams met only eight days ago. During the first and third sets particularly, the Vikings battled Nassau point-for-point, and both sets could have gone either way.
For Westchester, three two-season sophomores played in their final career match for WCC, with all three contributing tremendously to what proved to be a fiercely competitive match.
Madison Young (Hartsdale, NY/Woodlands HS) had 11 kills - to break 400 career kills for Westchester - and added five digs.
Lindsay Leggio (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac HS) added 21 assists - to finish with 977 career helpers. She also added four digs.
Alysha Owens (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Vernon HS) chipped in four kills and 11 digs.
Also for Westchester CC, freshman
Melody Pabon (Bronx, NY/Celia Cruz) and sophomore
Taylor Mello (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Putnam Valley HS) added nine digs apiece.
The Vikings finish with a 15-7 overall record, their best record since prior to the 2012 season. In fact, since 2012, no Westchester Community College Volleyball team has won more than 11 matches in a season. It was quite a run for this program ... and the rise of WCC Volleyball is just getting started.
